Length matters: Here's why I believe the Abu Dhabi course was short

Having watched the video, it looks like the course may have been set up correctly, but the lead vehicle made the wrong u-turn and everybody followed?

I find it interesting that Renato believed that this course was legit and also believed that Boston in 2011 was not wind-aided.

The lead vehicle may have turned in the wrong place but it appears that they had no choice considering the road was blocked just beyond that point.

Some Abu Dhabi hobby marathoner should have made a point to run the full course and then demanded the 1st place prize money and for every other runner to be DQ'd.

Renato Canova wrote:

If we look at the 10 km between 30 and 40, the time can be correct (28'54" is fast but possible with two athletes fighting together at the level of Kipserem and Kiptum).

The same for women (32'39" is fast but possible).

Probably, we had a mistake in the position of the post of 35 km (about 150 meters shorter), and of course the nest space was about 150m longer.

I'm not surprise for the final time. With the new mentality widespread inside the top runners, situations like this can be almost normal, of course when the courses are fast and the weather is ok.

They were on 2:02 for a long time there.

Still no official comment from the organizers ?!

The latest from Rojo.

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2018/12/german-expert-believes-the-abu-dhabi-marathon-was-between-120-and-130-meters-short/

my 2dirhams wrote:

Some Abu Dhabi hobby marathoner should have made a point to run the full course and then demanded the 1st place prize money and for every other runner to be DQ'd.

+1

All leading times ineligible for world lists and qualifying times for the world championships.

Tilastopaja in the results of the race put QUESTIONABLE COURSE LENGTH after each Marathoners Result.

They have NOT (Yet) put the Results in the ALL Time List's ( I am not sure if they will with the adjusted times), Kind of like When Bill Rodgers ran 2:08.23 in Sado Island, Japan (MIGHT have been a World Record at the time as I THINK Derrick Clayton's 2:08.33 was the World Record at that time) but it was found to be 100-200 meters short, So if they had measured it right it WOULD NOT be a World Record, but It Would have been a CAREER PERSONAL BEST.

Oh well I am sure those 2 will run faster than that in a less humid race, next year maybe 2:03's, now that Kipchoge ran 2:01.39 more people will run 2:02-2:03 more frequently.

video viewer wrote:

Having watched the video, it looks like the course may have been set up correctly, but the lead vehicle made the wrong u-turn and everybody followed?

So the vehicle should have drove through the line of cones completely blocking the road?

LetsRun.com wrote:

The latest from Rojo.

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2018/12/german-expert-believes-the-abu-dhabi-marathon-was-between-120-and-130-meters-short/

Ok so the video we used as a reference was a "promotional" video that was done months before the course was certified, something that was done a week before the race. Well I guess that will be verified by the certification report but the new time estimate, i.e. "120/130 more 21.2 to 23.0" still makes for a very fast 30/35 of 14'16" to 14'18" so there's probably more to the story than that.

deathinparadise wrote:

but the new time estimate, i.e. "120/130 more 21.2 to 23.0" still makes for a very fast 30/35 of 14'16" to 14'18" so there's probably more to the story than that.

Yes to me that still seems fast but then again that's when the break was made. Not a lot of it was shown on tv but those two guys did just sprint away from everyone else. I went back and watched it last night to see if it looked like they were flying. They were definitely moving but the thing is they both looked pretty comfortable. If confirmed to only be 120to130 meters short, it's still one of the best 5ks ever run in a marathon.

If it only ends up being that short, what's interesting is we know they run the 34 to 35k segement in 2:59 and Helmut believes that distance is accurate.

So if one runs a 14:18 5k (yes I know it's a little short) with a 2:59 last 5k that means you were running the first 4k in 11:19 or 14:08 pace.

- ROJO

LetsRun.com wrote:

The latest from Rojo.

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2018/12/german-expert-believes-the-abu-dhabi-marathon-was-between-120-and-130-meters-short/

Thanks for the follow up article. This is very important because this marathon was still a very fast marathon and deserves proper scrutiny.

Super fast. Can you imagine, just to add salt to injury, if on top of the course being short either of them (or both) are popped for juicing? That will be my dream thread here.

Good detective work dude!

Any further communication from the organizers ?

Apparently not but something's definitely up because the Abu Dhabi results are nowhere to be found on the IAAF's site, neither on the runner's list of races or performances of the year. For Chicago, Mo's time appeared within a few hours.

The Abu Dhabi marathon results are STILL NOT shown on the IAAF website while the Dubai marathon results from this morning are already there, something did go WRONG although everyone's been keeping very quiet about it...